1 HOUR 2 MINS
ReadySetAuction @Event & Wrap Up DP
At the end of this webinar, clients will be able to communicate what is needed for event preparation and demonstrate how to check in guests, record sales, check out guests and transfer data to DonorPerfect given they have a complete plan of RSA with event data properly entered. They will be able to do this in their own system at the end of their event.
Agenda:
Pre-Event Checklist, @Event Details, Communications & Reports, Event Wrap Up, Transfer to DonorPerfect, & Accessing event data
**You’ll find the handout for the webinar here:
http://softerware-sites.force.com/handouts?id=a235A000001oowF
Categories: Preparing for Events, Training Webinars
ReadySetAuction @Event & Wrap Up DP Transcript
Print TranscriptSo welcome everyone to the second part of our ReadySetAuction webinar series at event and wrap up. What we’re hoping is that by the end of today’s webinar, you guys are going to be able to walk away with a few key knowledge points, you’ll be Read More
So welcome everyone to the second part of our ReadySetAuction webinar series at event and wrap up. What we’re hoping is that by the end of today’s webinar, you guys are going to be able to walk away with a few key knowledge points, you’ll be able to know what steps you need to take to prepare for your event, you’ll walk away knowing how you can use ReadySetAuction to check folks into your event, how you can use ReadySetAuction to record the sales of your auction items, how you can check those guests out to process their invoices, and what steps you need to take with an DonorPerfect to transfer the data from ReadySetAuction over to your DonorPerfect database. My name is Amanda Todra insky, I have the honor of getting to be your guide trainer for today. I’ve been working with DonorPerfect and ReadySetAuction for the last three years. And I’ve worked with a variety of clients in terms of getting their auction events set up and ready for success. So before I start talking about some of those key Add Event components, I do want to do a little bit of housekeeping for those of you where this might be a new, you might be new to our webinars. So in front of you, you’re going to see a PowerPoint presentation as well as a live demonstration in a test DonorPerfect system, or test ReadySetAuction system, I should say. When you logged in, you had the GoToWebinar control panel open, you can use the arrow icon to open and close that panel as needed. And then the panel you can raise your hand so that you can participate in the webinar by raising your hand. The audio section is where you guys can set up your audio parameters. If you run into any issues with your audio, you can click over to phone call. That’ll give you a phone number and access code to call into the webinar and listen that way. If you haven’t done so already, go ahead and go to the handouts section of the Control panel so that you can download the handout that comes along with this webinar. And then lastly, the question box is where you guys are able to participate in the webinar by asking questions. Now I will do my absolute best to try to address questions as they come in and as they’re relevant. If we do get a little bit close to the end of our time today, I will hold questions until the very end. But I’m going to ask you guys a quick question in the question box below. What type of auction event are you guys looking to host? Are you going to be having a auction with just a live auctioneer? Are you going to have online bidding and live auction items? Are you doing an all mobile online auction? What kind of auction are you guys doing?
All right, so I have Jennifer who says they’re doing online and live. And Nancy says it’s for their annual gala. They’re doing a live auction and silent all mobile bidding. And Terry says she’s doing some research how to conduct hybrid online and live. Our All right, and Brittany and Kimberly are both writing in that they’re doing a few online items, some silent mobile bidding, and then a couple of live auction items. Awesome. So based off the conversations I’ve been having with a lot of my clients that pretty much tracks with what seems to be the common trend right now is it’s mostly mobile silent auction with a couple of live auction items, which we’ll go over how we handle both of those today. So in terms of the agenda that we had laid out, we’re going to go over the pre event checklist tasks to complete before the event. And now we’re going to break down how you can use ReadySet auction to manage all of the key tasks that will take place during the night of your event. Then we’ll take a look at a few communications and reports that ReadySet auction comes equipped with ADD how you can wrap up your event by transferring the data over to DonorPerfect and how you can access your historic event data should you want to compare what was successful last year to help set goals for your following years. So before we get into the nitty gritty of the out of bed tasks, there are are some steps that you and your team will want to take leading up to the event to ensure that you have the best experience for your attendees. One of those pieces is you want to make sure that you are adequately, adequately staffed for volunteers adequately staffed for volunteers. Typically, we would recommend one volunteer per about 50 guests. So that’s going to help ensure that you have a quick and efficient check in process and a quick and efficient checkout process for your guests. If you have a slightly older constituency, and you’re anticipating or you’re wanting to do any type of electronic or mobile bidding, I would highly encourage you to research using bidding stations. Bidding stations enable you to set up laptops and tablets at the event to provide patrons with a way to place bids on that device rather than their mobile device. So for older constituents, that can sometimes be an easier way for them to place the bid because it is a larger screen. I’m also a huge advocate for bidding stations even if you don’t have an older constituency, because people can leave their phone at home, or people’s phones can die during the event. So the bidding station allows those participants to still participate in the mobile online silent auction. Leading up to the event, you will want to confirm that your ReadySetAuction account is linked to your safe safe payment gateway. That’s what’s going to allow you to process electronic forms of payments like credit cards. I would also add to this that I would reach out to the safe safe team and confirm what your transaction limit is for credit cards. If your transaction limit for credit cards is $50,000. But you have a bidder who has a invoice of $100,000, the system will actually reject you processing that transaction. So I would reach out to save safe confirm what your transaction limit is. And you can actually request a temporary increase just for the night of your event. Those volunteers that are going to be helping out with your event with processes like checking folks in recording the sale of auction items. And checking folks out they will need to be added to ReadySetAuction as staff members. So you will want to you will want to make sure leading up to the event that you’re inviting those staff members to get access to your ReadySetAuction database so they can help with those key Add Event tasks.
Perfect. And then finally, the last piece is for your bidders who are already in your Ready Set option system, we would encourage you to go through and send out to those folks and invitation email. Invite them to create their bidding account ahead of the event. So that way, once they’re checked into the event, and you have a credit card on file for them, they can start bidding right away. So with all this said, let’s actually navigate away from the slides real quick into my test ReadySetAuction system. Because I want to show off three key pieces here. I want to show you how you can confirm your merchant account is enabled, how you can invite staff members to have access to ReadySetAuction, how you can send out that invitation prompt to your bidders. So in terms of setting up the merchant account, under the administrative tab in the top right corner of ReadySetAuction, and in the sub tab event settings, I apologize it’s the sub tab organization settings. Under admin and organization settings. You can go into the tertiary tab merchant account. And what you want to look for is that the payment gateway provider is set to save save. You have a security key entered here. Enable enabled payment methods is set up and you can save and test the connection. When you get the green message that means that you’re ready set options system is linked and able to accept credit card forms of payment. Now what if you don’t have the security key listed here yet? If you don’t have your safe, safe security key, what I would encourage you to do is reach out to our support team and let them know you need the safe save gateway key for your ReadySetAuction database. I need my safe safe gateway key for my ReadySetAuction database, they’ll be able to message you this link this API link, you can paste it into this box. And then your system is set up and ready to process credit cards. So we’ve completed that step. Now let’s talk about adding staff members. Under the same administrative tab, in the secondary tab event staff, this is where we’re going to go to add additional staff members to our system, we’re able to click add staff member, enter the staff members name.
And then in Step number two, we have to decide what their level of access is. So we input first name, last name, email address. And then what is that person’s level of access. The majority of the volunteers who are working with your organization will be modify access, modify access means they can record the sale of items, modify means they can check folks in modify means they can check folks out. view access means people can only view data, they’re not able to make changes. administrative users have access to the admin side of your of your ReadySetAuction system. So this means that they have access to all parts of the system and could disable payment methods. Which is why we recommend admin be reserved strictly for your organization staff. Volunteers can get modify access. When you shoot the email over to them invite staff member that’s going to send that staff member an email. And let’s see if I get my email here.
There it is. So the staff member is going to get an email sent over to them. They’re going to click here to complete the registration form. In order to complete the registration, they need an event access code. The event access code is a security measure that’s put into place to ensure people don’t get access to your database who don’t have express permission. The event access code is not included in the email that the staff member receives for security purposes. So one extra step for your staff members is that within the ReadySetAuction system. Under event settings, you will have to communicate this access code to your volunteers, you will have to send them a separate email with this access code. They’ll be able to then paste that into the system create their account and then they are registered as a staff member.
Perfect. And then finally, the last task that I want to go over is how do we invite bidders to create their bidding account ahead of the event. The hope being that if they have an account created we can speed up the checkout process and they can start bidding even faster. So under patrons and bitters. Under patrons and bidders, you’re able to go to the very bottom of the list and under Actions on bitters. Send an invitation email to everyone that hasn’t yet been invited, or resend an invitation email for peoples whose invitation has expired. What this does is it prompts the individual to create their bidding account. Once their account is created. They can then participate in the auction whenever your items open for bidding. So I can invite all if not get invited. Click confirm and send these emails out. To my 46 recipients. So the hope is that the bidders will create their account ahead of the event, it’ll be tied to the account in bitter number that’s already in ReadySetAuction, which will ensure you have a quicker check in process. Now, what happens if the person doesn’t create their bidding account and they come to our event and are waiting to get checked in. We’ll actually talk about that a little bit later in the presentation.
But some additional pieces that you may want to think about preparing ahead of your event. So again, this is all pre event setup, you may want to have bid and purchase sheets already printed out for your event, we can plan to do a silent and mobile auction. But sometimes our Wi Fi might go down, which means that our mobile auction is now down. So it’s always a good idea to have paper bid sheets prepared, just in case that happens. So you have a way to convert your mobile auction to a traditional silent auction. I would recommend creating display sheets for all of the items in your catalog. Display sheets are a great way to highlight the items that you’re auctioning off some of the details about that item. And you guys can even on your own, create display sheets that have QR codes. So those QR codes can enable you to have people scan the item and take them right to that item in the catalog. I want to be clear ReadySet auction does not have display sheets with QR codes. It’s something that you have to create on your own. But I’ve seen a lot of organizations do that. And they’ve been very successful. And I’ve gotten great feedback from their constituents about that. For your live auction items, you may want to create a paper catalog as a way for people to be able to see what items will be auctioned off and read some information about them. For items that are experiences, you may want to have those gift certificates printed out ahead of the event. I would also determine during checkout, where does the constituent need to go to pick up that gift certificate. So do they need to go to a specific individual in order to get that gift certificate? Or is it something that you’ll be emailing to them after the event, determine that make that very clear, communicate that process to your auction staff. And if you have auction items that have additional documents that go with that item, for example, a certificate of authenticity, you can print out labels ahead of the event to label that folder with those additional documents to ensure that when the donor picks up that item, they’re also getting those additional documents handed to them as well.
So where can I go and ReadySetAuction to print out all of these different materials. Going back into my test ReadySetAuction system, all of those printed materials you can find under the items tab. And under printed materials, under items and printed materials along the top here are all of the tabs of materials that you can print out ahead of the event. You can read the description because some materials have different versions or variations. And then you can click on the downward button to download different versions or file types for this document.
All righty, so one other pre event setup piece that I do want to highlight is our event showcase. So our showcase essentially is a way for Ready Set option to create a very simple and basic PowerPoint presentation for your event. So you can set up an event showcase and within that showcase, you can display key aspects of your event. You can highlight a goal progress bar to let people know how close you are towards to actually reaching your fundraising goal for this particular event. You can use the event showcase as a high way to highlights high level or important auction packages. This is a great way to get people excited about your live auction items. Or for very valuable mobile auction items, this is a great way to get people excited about them. It’s also a way if for your sponsors, one of the perks is to have their logo represented at your event, you can actually use the event showcase as a way to highlight what highlight those sponsor logos. So what the showcase is, is it’s something you enable underneath the administrative tab, it just requires that you have a device to run the showcase off of and you have a way to actually project it at the event.
So navigating away from kind of the pre event setup, I now want us to shift our focus and our gears into what are the tasks that we have to complete at the event. And one of the first recommended tasks that we would encourage everyone to do for in person events is a check in process. What the check in process essentially allows you to do is to collect information about your constituents. It also enables you to collect donors credit card information ahead of the event. So for the check in process, you have one of two ways that you can check folks in, you can check folks in as a single person, that means that one person will be using their own better number and have their own individual payment method. Or you can check people in as a couple. So you can check in a husband and a wife together, that husband and wife can have separate fitting numbers, or that husband and wife can share a bidding number. The key piece to remember here is that when you are checking in a couple, that couple is going to share one payment method. So the husband and wife are going to share the same credit card. So if we do have a couple that wants separate credit cards, we have to check them in as individuals or as a single person.
So let’s actually go into ReadySetAuction, and let’s see what the check in process will look like. So it’s the night of my event. Ah, Julia Julia, I’m actually going to address your question in just a moment. So it’s the night of my event. And let’s say that I have a couple who wants to be checked in. That couple wants to share a credit card number, but they want to separate bidding numbers. So what I’m going to do is under Add Event, I’m going to check that couple in as a couple. And I’m going to choose one person as the primary guest. And one person is going to be my secondary guest. When I click the next button, at the next step, this is where I’m confirming the contact information for my constituents. So I’m confirming their name, I’m confirming their email address. And for those of you that are doing a online mobile auction, you want to collect their mobile phone number. The mobile phone number is how they can opt into getting out bid notifications texted to their phone. So at minimum we want to collect email address and mobile phone number so they can create a bidding account and be notified when their outfit I can confirm the same information for Shawn McAllen.
When I confirm their information, and step number three up and here we go. My mobile phone number is already being used by another account. So let me create a fake one. That’s step number three if the donor had already put a credit card on file because they purchased tickets ahead of the event, that credit card will be listed here. If the credit card is not listed on file We can add one so I can click add credit card confirm the payment information for the cardholder and enter their credit card information in and yes, there are capture devices that you guys can purchase where you can swipe the donors credit card and it will actually capture that information on this I apologize I just need to mute myself real quick.
Apologies I am just getting over a cold here and I just had a very bad coughing fit that just came up. So I do apologize for that thank you for your patience. So to complete this step, now that I have the donors credit card information loaded into this part of the system. I can click Next. And at step number four, this is where I’m checking the guests into the system. So I can confirm with them their table assignment. I can confirm with them their bidding numbers which I apologize Julia. So Julia, you can see the bidders can have different numbers but still using the same credit card. For Amanda, Amanda registered for IE bidding ahead of the event. So what I did is so what I did is I sent her that registration email that I showed you guys how to do earlier in the session. Amanda click the link and she registered for a bidding account. So I’m sending her a welcome email to essentially give her the link to the catalog. For Sean Sean did not register for E bidding yet. So for Sean I’m going to send him an E bidding registration email and text message. So that way he can register for his billing account and be able to create an account and participate as a bitter my final step is I can check in my guest and then I can check in the next guest which could be an individual or a single person. So the same process of selecting single choosing the name of the individual from my list confirming her contact information including a mobile phone number for her
adding a credit card for her and then and step number four, actually checking her into the event. And the system is actually letting me know in this yellow text, Kelly has it registered For E bidding. So this is the clue for the staff members or yourself that you should let Kelly know, Kelly, you’re going to get an email or text message sent to you. And you’re going to follow that link to create your bidding account.
So Jennifer asked a great question, can guests check in before the event or do we have to do this for everyone as they come. So Jennifer, there’s really not a pre check in process that exists, visitors can register for their bidding account ahead of the event. But if we want to confirm that we have a credit card on file for that individual, or if we want to make sure we have all of their information, like addresses and phone numbers, they will have to go through the check in process. That’s why I’m such a big advocate of trying to get them to register for E betting ahead of the event. Because that means when you go through the check in process, they will have already put in put it their mobile phone number and address. So at that point, you’re pretty much just confirming details. All right. And Julia, I hope I addressed your question as well around the couple’s being checked in.
Alrighty, so we know that Shawn, and we know that Kelly, both did not have bidding accounts created ahead of the event. So what is the experience going to be like for Shawn and Kelly? So after this step, where I’ve sent them, I’ve checked them in, I’ve sent them an email and a text message, as long as I mention for them. What does the creation of the account process look like from the biters perspective? Well, what’s going to happen is that bitter is going to get that email or that text message sent to their device. And what they’re going to do is, they’re going to click the green Create Account button. And what the Create Account button is going to do is it’s going to take them to a web form for them to create their billing account. So it’s pretty much like if you register for an account on any online website, it asks you for all the normal information, first name, last name, address, blood type firstborn child information. So they’re going to go in and put their information, they’re going to create a password for their account. Their username will always be the email address that’s on file and ReadySetAuction. So username will be their email, password they get to create. And then during the setup process, this is where they can opt into getting email and text message notifications if they are outbid on an item. So they can opt into both. They can choose to opt into just one. And then finally, when they click create account all the way down here at the bottom, that is now going to create their bidding account, they’ll get a confirmation that their registration was successful. And at that point, now they’re able to go to the website and access it as a better. So this means that they’re able to go to the auction catalog, they’re able to actually start placing bids on items. And if they’re outbid on an item, unfortunately, they can be notified that they were outbid, depending on what they’ve chosen to opt into in terms of communications.
So how does the bidding then work for these mobile silent auctions? Well, what’s going to happen is when the individual logs into their bidding account, whether they’re accessing it from this screenshot being an example of what a bidding station login would look like. This being what it would look like if it was on their mobile device. So if they want to place a bid on a silent mobile auction item, what they’ll do is go into the catalog, find the item that they want to bid on. Or if you guys have display sheets with QR codes, they can scan the QR code and that’ll take them right to the aisle. them, they can come in and place their bid. If they’re really passionate about wanting to win that item, they can actually turn on a feature called Auto bidding. Auto bidding actually enables the patrons to set a maximum bid for that item. So what will happen is if I place a maximum bid of $1,000 on the Hamilton experience package, and then my colleagues come in and they try to bid 200 300 405 100 Auto bid will bid for me automatically the minimum amount that will enable me to outbid that individual. So it’ll keep bidding for me and bidding for me and bidding for me until someone places a bid above $1,000. At that point, then I will get an out bid notification letting me know that I was out bid. So Auto is actually a great feature to encourage, because it lets your patrons place a bid, they can set it, forget it, and then they can go and enjoy the rest of the festivities for your event.
So here’s what the screen will look like I placed my bid I clicked to confirm. And once they click confirm, it’s either going to take them back to the screen to let them know if they were outfitted, or if you are successfully the highest better.
So to show what this looks like in the website itself. If I were to go to my test website
and I were to go into the auction catalog and view my catalog. And I wanted to place a bid on one pleasant interaction cumulate cumulating and a high five, I could place a maximum bid of 700. Turn on auto bidding. Click Next. Confirm my bid up and I was outbid again. So this means someone has a really high auto bid in place here.
All right. And what’s nice about the silent auction is whenever time these packages close, so my package is going to close in 10,000 days. But when that package time hits, ReadySetAuction will take all of these silent mobile auction items, and it will automatically assign the item to the invoice of the highest bidder for you. So you are not responsible for having to manage your silent auction items. Ready Set option will take care of adding them to the invoice for you. However, for those of you that are having events where you have a live auction, or if you’re doing a Paddle Raise or a funded need, or if you’re doing raffle tickets, those items will have to be added to the bidders invoice manually, because those are live pieces that are happening at your event. ReadySetAuction has no way of knowing who was the highest bidder for your live auction items with your auctioneer.
So what I’m going to do is I’m actually going to take you into ReadySet auction and show you how you can record the sale of a live auction item and how you can record the sale of a paddle need or a funding so we can add that to a donors invoice.
So logging myself back into my ReadySetAuction system real quick. To record the sale of an auction item, a live auction item. We’re going to work under the Add Event tab and record sales. Within record sales, what you’re going to do is you’re going to find your live auction item package. Spring Tea Party for 10. Click Next. Oh that is not a live auction item. Let me just see if I can find one trip for two to Puerto Rico. So I’m going to confirm the trip for two to Puerto pico I can either type in the bid or number of the bidder that raise their paddle was the highest bidder. Or I can type in the bidders name. Then I input the value how much did this How much did the bidder when this item for click Next and confirm the winning bids that now has placed to for to to Puerto Rico on my invoice for $5,000. But what I also did is I raised my paddle for the paddle race. So during the event, they asked if I wanted to make a donation and I said of course I raised my paddle. And I raised my paddle for $250 Because I wanted to fund the kids camp for 250. So someone in my system set up a Bible fund in a package for 250. I’m going to choose that package and click Next. And as the staff member, what I can do is I can take the list of people who raised their paddle for that $250 Paddle race. And I can come in and I can input all of those individuals better numbers into this screen. So I’m able to actually input multiple paddle raises all at the same time. So this is a case where I think having purchase sheets prepared for the event for your paddle arrays is helpful. Have a purchase sheet for each one of your paddle arrays values, write down the better numbers and then hand that off to a staff member so that they can do the data entry. So I can enter up to 10 bidders at a time. Click Next. And what will happen is when I confirm purchases, it will add a funding need package to all of these bidders invoices.
So with that, we’re able to record the sale of our live auction items, we’re able to record the sale of our silent auction items. Now one more piece that was mentioned on the slide. So I want to show you guys how to do this is how under the Add Event tab and record sales, you guys can place what’s called a proxy bid. So a proxy bid can be used for your staff members to place a bid on an electronic bidding item on behalf of a bitter so this could be because you guys chose not to set up bidding stations and the bitters phone died. So they’re asking you if you can place a bid on their behalf. With the proxy bid, you can look up the bidder using their number or their name. Click Next. Choose the electronic bidding package that you want to place the bid on. And then place that bid amount. The system will let you know in the yellow box what the minimum bid is Amanda, the minimum bid is 830. And then Amanda will say okay, bid 930 for me. So we’re able to place a bid for Amanda for 930. And we’re able to let her know Amanda, you’re the highest bidder for the Hamilton tickets and she’ll be super excited. And hopefully at the end of the night, she’s going to walk away with four tickets to see Hamilton. So proxy EBIT, it’s a nice tool that enables you to place bids on behalf of your bidders if they’re having any difficulties. The one nuance that I want to highlight is that they will have had to create a bidding account prior to asking you to place the proxy bid. So they will have had to at least created a bidding cow account at some point in order for that bid to be placed.
Alright, so right after we record all of the sales of our items, the last step typically for the night of the event is the checkout process. So there’s a few different ways that we can handle the check checkout process. The first is that we can encourage self checkout. self checkout is where we email every single person at the event an invoice. And within that email, the donor can click a button to pay for their invoice on their mobile device. So it’s a great way to encourage people to pay for their items, they get a receipt sent to them, they don’t have to wait in line in order to be processed at the end of the night. Another way that you can go about invoicing folks is you can print out the invoice at the event. So you can print out the invoice have them at the bitters tables, bitters can then walk that invoice up to a staff member and go through the manual pay in person checkout. So the pay in person checkout is going to be used for people who prefer to pay with cash or cheque or you’re not taking advantage of the self checkout functionality. So pay in person essentially is how people are able to wait in line and be checked out at the event. So to highlight the differences between self checkout and pay in person with self checkout the process is that once all of the items for your event are recorded on the bitters invoices, everything is done and accounted for. Under patrons and bitters, patrons and bitters. Actions on bitters, you’re going to send an invoice with all that have a balance do so send an invoice email to everyone with an open balance. We click confirm we click Send
it lets me know that 60 bidders were invoiced successfully from the bidders perspective
they’re going to get an email that confirms their invoice. Amanda you want our purchase the following items the better can click Pay invoice.
Okay, so sometimes this happens, sometimes. The invoicing functionality when I’m doing webinars gives me technical difficulties because this is a test ReadySetAuction system. So because of the test system, we have some weird, wonky things that happen. But to show you guys what would typically happen if you guys were working in a real system
what will happen is when that bidder clicks pay invoice, when they click Pay invoice, they get directed to this screen in their bidding account. They’re able to use the credit card that they already have on file or add a new payment method.
And they can click Pay and that will process that bidders invoice, they’ll get a receipt sent to them, their invoice gets marked as paid and ready to auction and they can proceed to walk away with their items. So self checkout is nice because it enables visitors to process their own payment they don’t have to wait in line for those that want to process their payment with checked or if they don’t want to use self checkout. Then they can go through the manual checkout process. Under Add Event and checkout guest Add Event checkout guest they can choose the name of the bitter that they want to check out. Confirm the bidders invoice with them. Let me go back and choose the one that I have more items for. I can confirm the bidders invoice. If items need to be removed, and I’m an admin user, if I’m an admin user, I can remove items from this biters invoice. At Step number three, this is where I could use the credit card that I have on file for them. Or enter a check in confirm the receipt will go to this email. And with manual check out, you have the option to ask the donor would they like to make an additional donation to cover the cost of the processing fee. We can’t make this required. But we can always ask people if they want to cover that fee. Then we just processed the payment the better we’ll get their invoice, email or their receipt emailed to them, and we can then direct this bitter to go and pick up their items.
Okay, I’m just gonna skip past this slide, because I actually showed you that already. Now in terms of those communications that I sent out the invoice email, which was what the bidder was owed, the receipt, which is showing that the bidder paid for the item. Those two setups, those two items of communications, we would want to set up under the patrons and Communications tab ahead of the event. So we can customize the messaging under patrons and communications to customize the messaging for the bidders invoice and receipt. Now after the event is over, we will also want to look at the communications around thanking our bidders. So thanking them for coming to the event and supporting us. So under patrons and communications, we can set up a donor thank you email, or letter that we can send to our people who donated items so that they can use that as a tax receipt. We can also send a communication to our bidders thanking them for supporting our event and for purchasing items. So I want to highlight those because it’s always a good idea to be able to say thank you after the event for that support. And that’s what’s going to have people come consistently coming back to these events as well.
All right, and Julia asked a wonderful question. How long does everyone have to do the self checkout? What if people don’t check out on the night of the event? Can I check them out manually the next day? Yes. So Julia, there’s no time limit on the self checkout, people can go to that self checkout List link and check themselves out at any point in time. Now, because people will sometimes leave events early and not realize that they are actually the winner. That is a big reason why I think it’s a good idea to require a stored credit card upon check in and upon people signing up to become an electronic fitter. Because you’re requiring that credit card so that if they do want an item and they walk away without paying their invoice, the next day, you can go through and process those donors credit cards for the items that they want. And then you just have to reach out to that donor and arrange for pickup.
All right. Now, after all is said and done. After your event is over, eventually you guys are going to want to move this data over into your DonorPerfect system. Because as part of your fundraising history, we want this information we want this type of interaction tracked within our donors profile. So in terms of when you can transfer the data to DonorPerfect, the transfer will happen under the administrative tab. In order for the transfer to take place, you need to have a DonorPerfect API key. If you don’t have your DonorPerfect API key already, you can reach out to the support team. Let them know you need an API key for ReadySetAuction. They’ll be able to email you that key so that you can input it into the correct spot in DonorPerfect. Now in order for the transfer to happen, you’re ReadySetAuction system must be locked. What that means is the system is locked in, you’re no longer able to make any changes to invoices or to donation statuses or to patron information. So when does your ready set options system lock, your ReadySetAuction system is going to lock 45 days after your event date that 45 days is to allow you time to follow up with donors invoices and clean up your data. So we allow you 45 days before the event automatically locks. Now for those of you that say while we clean up our data, and we’re probably hat will probably be ready to transfer the data into DonorPerfect four days after our event date. Do I have to wait 45 days? The answer is no. You’re not required to wait the 45 days. However, if you want the event locked early, you will have to reach out to the support team and have them lock the event for you. Keep in mind once we lock your event, we cannot unlock it them. So please make sure that you’re double checking all invoices are paid for all donations are marked as received. All of your patron information is up to date and current. But once you’re ready for that transfer to take place, you’re going to come in to admin and DonorPerfect transfer, click the Send button.
And that’ll send all of your information into DonorPerfect for you. It’s a one time transfer that takes place once the transfer happens we can’t undo it. Once the transfer happens we can’t do a second transfer.
So to show you this process in the ReadySetAuction system
the transfer is initial initiated under the administrative tab. Under organization settings and DonorPerfect account, you want to make sure that your DonorPerfect API key is saved and connected. Then you can come down to DonorPerfect transfer. And before you click Send records, you will want to go through these tabs ticket sales gift and donations auction winnings. And for each one of these tabs, you’re going to confirm what the checkbox Am I sending this information into DonorPerfect. And if you are sending this information into DonorPerfect, what codes from DonorPerfect Do you want to apply to these types of donations. If you’ve worked with our online forms product, I like to think about these being very similar to set item codes under online forms. Once your codes are set, under preview and send you have the ability to click Preview records. This is a report that you can export to an Excel file and preview. Once your event is locked, you can click Send records and that’ll send the information into ReadySet auction for you. And that really is the ReadySetAuction system from the Add Event perspective. So I do see a couple questions that had come in so I’m gonna go ahead and address those as they head up this is the end of the content that I had planned for today. So I do want to be respectful if you do have to leave right now please do but if you want to hang around I’m totally down to hang around and address some questions that you guys may have. But by no means are you required to stick around for this part. Julia if I manually check them out the next day but then they see the email we’ll double charge them. Julia No. So the system will never double charge the individual so if they self check themselves out you cannot manually check them out. If you send them the invoice but then you check them out manually. It’s not going to double charge them you can only process a person’s invoice one time. Nancy how to bitter share their bitter number Nancy that’s a wonderful question. So when you are checking a couple in The primary guest, the primary guest is the better number that you want to use for that couple. So when you’re checking a couple in I want to share a better number the primary guests is the bitter number that will be used. You go through all three steps of the check in process. And down here in Lindsay Arnold Lindsay Arnold is the secondary guest, we’re going to say that she is going to use the bidding number of holly Adams. So it’s going to pull the primary bitters number and populate that here. And then that couple is able to share a credit card and a bedding number.
jeulia the bidding notifications are only 40 bidding correct. So if we are not doing ie bidding, should we skip having people fill out their account info, Julia, that’s actually a very great point. So if your organization is not doing any type of an electronic form of bidding, they are by no means required to then create a bidding account. The bidding account is really to either a enable people to purchase tickets, or be enable people to participate in a mobile auction. I will actually throw on a third one. If they create a bidding account, then they can also take advantage of self checkout as well. They need a bidding account to do self checkout. But if you’re doing a mostly live auction, then I don’t really think that you would need to require people to create a bidding account just to do self checkout. You might be better off just having them go through the wait in line to be checked out process. If that makes sense. Please let me know if it doesn’t
it’s kind of fun when you’re doing an event that either was mixing both or just one. Oh, you’re so welcome, Nancy.
And just to let you guys go as a reminder, I’m just going to kind of be sticking around for a few more minutes if you guys have any questions. By no means are you required to hang out. I just like to stick around and see if there’s any lingering questions and they can be specific to your event or just specific to your general questions around ReadySetAuction.
Read Less